Memorial Day/ Independence Day

This coming week Israel will be commemorating יום הזיכרון /Memorial Day.  The very next day is יום העצמאות/ Independence Day.  Every year it is a difficult transition between the sadness of Memorial Day to the joy of Independence   Day. The State of Israel is a modern miracle.  We are here today because of the incredible sacrifices that so many people made and are still making today to build the country and keep us safe.

In honor of Independence Day, I have included two pictures of  Israeli wildflowers at the beginning and the end of this post.  Thanks to the talented Nava Feldman for the photos.

Flower Photos by Nava Feldman

 One of the best ways to learn  Israeli history is to a read a book from the series מנהרת הזמן /  The Time Tunnel.  I wrote about this series in an earlier blog post.

Two ten-year-olds go back in time and learn about Israeli and Jewish history. I recently read vol. 10  דגל הדיו / The Ink Flag about the battle to free Eilat. I learned so much from the book.

The book המדינה של ילדי הגן / The State of Kindergarten Children is a special book for all olim.  אמונה אלון/ Emunah Elon writes how a group of kindergarten children builds the State of Israel with blocks and their imagination.  The children build buildings, pave roads and plant trees to build  Israel. David wants to join the play but he's not welcome.  He wasn't there when they "built the nation" so it's too late for him to join in. One girl says to the other children "Aren't you ashamed!  There is no  country without new immigrants!", David is thrilled to play the role of oleh hadash.  Ages 3-5.

דבורה עומר מספרת על בן-גוריון / Devorah Omer Tells the Story of Ben-Gurion is the biography of Israel's first prime minister.  What was Ben-Gurion like as a child?  When did he move to Israel?  Did he have children?  What did Ben-Gurion do before he became prime minister?  Read the book to find the answers to these questions and much more.  Each chapter is one or two pages.  Ages 8-10.

בעקבות הבית הנעלם/ Following the Lost House by אורה מורג /Ora Morag is a  historical/ mystery book.  Three children find a  pocket watch in the excavation site of a Jerusalem neighborhood.  It turns out to be the watch that Julie Herzl gave her husband, Theodor Herzl. The children learn about Herzl and donate the watch to the Zionist Archives.  It's 100 years from the time of the first Zionist Congress organized by Herzl in Basel, Switzerland.  The city of Basel invites the children to come to the 100-year celebration.  They have a wonderful time there.  Ages 9 - 11.  

 לעזוב בית / To Leave Home tells the story of Glila, a 10-year-old living in  Kibbutz Daphna, a kibbutz in northern Israel. Glila is living through the excitement of the creation of the State of Israel and the difficulties and fears of the War of Independence. She and her friends spend quite a bit of time in the kibbutz shelters during the constant shelling.  Eventually, they are evacuated to the city of Haifa.  Finally, the war ends and the kibbutz buildings are repaired and the children can go home!

The author ינה טפר/ Yona Topper grew up in Kibbutz Daphna during this time period. Ages 10 - 13.

Tip no. 21

Check out the Israel Defense Force's youtube channel.  There are some fascinating videos to watch!

 !!חג עצמאות שמח

Photo from the Government Press Office -Israel
Photo by Amos Ben Gershom

Holocaust Day

On Monday, April 24th, Israelis will be commemorating יום השואה/Holocaust Day in Israel.   While the Holocaust is a very difficult concept to explain to children, there is a large selection of books dealing with the subject in Hebrew for children of all ages.  I chose books whose main characters were not in concentration camps or ghettos.  I wanted to give young readers a somewhat different perspective of the Holocaust.

איך למדתי גיוגרפיה/ How I Learned Geography by אורי שולביץ/Uri Shulevitz is the author/illustrator's story of escaping with his family during WWII from Poland to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  They lived in this exotic, strange country for six years. Uri lived with his family in one tiny room.  He had no books or games and very little food to eat.  One day Uri's father went to the marketplace to buy bread.  Instead of bread, his father came back with a large map of the world.  At first, Uri is furious with his father.  Later, he becomes enchanted by the map and looks at it for hours on end.  Using his imagination, the map transports him to deserts, beaches, mountains and cities.

The book, originally written in English,  is a Caldecott Honor Book.  It was awarded for Shulevitz's amazing illustrations which take us to places all over the world.  This is an excellent book to read to your children when they are young. When they are older, they can read it by themselves.   Ages 5-10 years old.

המחבוא/Hidden is a gentle graphic novel.  The novel which is translated from the French was written by לואיק דווילייה / Loic Dauvillier.  Elsa wakes up to find her grandmother Dounia had a bad dream.  She explains to her grandmother that she will feel better if she tells Elsa about it.   Reluctantly, her grandmother tells her about her experiences growing up as a French Jewish child during the Holocaust.   Dounia's parents hide her when the French police come to their home and take the parents away.  Dounia and a neighbor escape the police and live on a farm until the end of the war.  The neighbors help  Dounia to find her mother who was freed from a concentration camp.  Her father does not return.

 Elsa tells her father the story. This is the first time he has heard about his mother's experiences during the war.

Ages 9 1/2 - 12.

אסתר שנקין/ Esther  (Tika) Shakine wrote and illustrated המסע של תיקה / Tika's Journey.  She uses a combination of illustrations and comics to tell the story of her life during and after the Holocaust. The author begins her story in WW II Hungary when she is five years old.  When the Nazis come to get her family, her parents hide her in the closet.  When Tika finally came out of the closet, no one was there.  She runs out into the street and is found by a priest who knew her family.  Tika stays in a Catholic orphanage for several years until the city was being bombed. Tika spends time with a group of street children until the end of the war. After the war, she meets a Jewish youth director and decides to make aliyah.   The author was on the famous illegal immigration ship "The Exodus" which did not make it to Palestine. In the end, she did make aliyah in May 1948.  Ages 10-12.

הבית מערבות השמש/ Homeward From the Steppes of the Sun by אורי אורלב/Uri Orlev is based on the true story of  Eli Paz-Pozliak.  When Eliyusha (Eli) is five years old, his family flees the invading Germans and makes the long journey east to the remote area of Kazakhstan.   This is a fascinating story of survival from the Steppes of Kazakhstan, to post-war Poland and then to pre-State Israel. At age 11 Eliyusha moves in with his mother, siblings, and step-father to an apartment in Tel-Aviv.  The family is finally united.  Ages 11- 14.

Mrs. Chaya Stone

1924-2000

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Chaya Stone. Mrs. Stone lost her parents, two siblings, her husband and young son during the Holocaust. She and her 12-year-old sister survived the war years by living with  Jewish partisans in the woods.  She married Mr. Stone, a partisan from her hometown of Belice, Lithuania, during that time period.  Several years after the war they moved to Rochester, NY where they raised their family. After Mr. Stone passed away in 2000, Mrs. Stone made aliyah and spent her time with her daughter, grandchildren and two sisters living in Israel.  As a friend of her daughter, I was privileged to know Mrs. Stone as a lovely, insightful person.

יהי זכרה ברוך

Tip no. 20

Many readers of this blog will be familiar with the book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.  It is a Newbury winner about Denmark during the Holocaust.  I am sure that many parents will be happy to know that the book is available in Hebrew as 

מונה מספר לכוכבים. In 1943, the Danish people rescued almost all of the Danish Jewish population by evacuating them to neutral Sweden.  This book of historical fiction brings the story to life .
Ages 10-12.